On Final AttackThe Story of
the U853

It was May 5th, 1945, and the long
and tragic world war in Europe was finally reaching
its conclusion. Adolf Hitler, having just committed
suicide, had been replaced by Admiral Karl Doenitz
of the German Navy. In a New York Times story,
Doenitz is quoted as telling his Nazi forces that,
“the struggle against the Western Powers has become
senseless.” In a United Press International article,
Doenitz is said to have issued orders to all U-boat
commanders to “cease hostilities” at once and to
return home immediately. It appeared as if the
terrifying siege against allied shipping along the
Atlantic coast of the United States was finally
over.

Or was it?

A few miles Northeast of Block
Island, a small spit of land lying east of New
York’s Long Island (technically part of the state of
Rhode Island) the U-853, commanded by Oberleutnant
Helmut Froemsdorf, lay in waiting in the murky
waters of the Atlantic.

Built in 1943 by Deschimag, in Bremen, German,
the U-853 had been a recent addition to the German
Navy. She was a IX-C class submarine, running 252
feet in length with a 22.7 foot beam. Constructed of
steel, the U-853 displaced 1,120 gross tons. The
armament she carried included two twin 20mm
anti-aircraft guns, one 37mm anti-aircraft gun, one
105mm deck gun and six torpedo tubes. She was
nicknamed Der Seiltaenzer (Tightrope Walker) by her
crew and had reached her operating position off of
New England late in the month of April 1945.

During this time, a Collier (bulk cargo carrier) named the S.S.
Black Point was completing an uneventful voyage from Newport News,
Virginia to Weymouth, Massachusetts. She was loaded with a cargo of
7,500 tons of soft coal. This cruise would be her last and the Black
Point would soon become the last American Flag merchant ship to be
sunk by German submarines. What makes this sinking so tragic is that
it occurred after Donitz’s orders were given to cease hostilities
and only a few hours before the official end to the war.

The
Black Point had left its coastal convoy at the approach to New York
Harbor, as these waters were considered to be free of enemy
submarines. As she entered the western end of Rhode Island Sound,
four miles Southeast of Point
Judith, Rhode Island, a huge explosion ripped a 40 feet opening in
her stern section. Within 15 minutes, the Black Point had capsized
and was laid to rest in 95 feet of water. Twelve men lost their
lives in the sinking, while 34 crew members were rescued by ships
that soon converged upon the area. One of these ships, the S. S.
Kamen, immediately sent an SOS report of the torpedoing and the hunt
for the U-853 began.

At 1742 hours, the radio operator of the Moberly, a Coast Guard
frigate traveling with two Navy destroyer escorts (Amick and
Atherton), picked up the signal from the Kamen. These ships were 30
miles from the scene and arrived in the vicinity of the sinking at
1930 (7:30 p.m.) hours. Taking stations 3,000 feet apart, they began
their search.

For the remainder of the evening, a series of
attacks on the U-853 ensued. Each time the vessels
believed they had dealt a mortal blow to the German
ship, sonar would reveal its movement as it
attempted to escape. The struggle was a perilous
one. In fact, shortly after midnight on May 6, the
Moberly and the Atherton both damaged themselves by
failing to avoid the explosions of their own depth
charges. Eventually, as the evening wore on, the
attacks were halted until 0530 the following
morning, when the sun began to rise on the final day
in the life of the U-853.

Two blimps, K-16 and K-58 from Lakehurst, New
Jersey, joined the attack with the arrival of
daylight. They were directed to assist in locating
and identifying oil slicks and to help mark the
location of the submarine with smoke and dye
markers. The U-boat was believed to be heavily
damaged and appeared to be bleeding large amounts of
air and oil.

The K-16 blimp dropped a sonar buoy on a spot
where oil was still rising to the surface. The sonar
operators in both blimps then heard the sounds of
metallic hammering coming from the submarine. About
ten minutes later, a long shrill shriek was heard.
Attacks were then made on this spot using the
blimp’s 7.2” rocket bombs. At 1045 hours, the U-853
was declared sunk and on the bottom 7.7 miles east
of Block Island.

Today, decades after the sinking of the U-853,
mystery still surrounds this wreck. Why did she
attack and sink the Black Point one day after the
cease fire order had been given by the acting
Fuhrer? Did the U-853 receive and then ignore the
order, or was the order never received? Several
theories persist regarding the “true” nature of the
U-853’s mission. Some say that she was designed to
be Hitler’s private escape craft. Others maintain
that she was transporting millions of dollars worth
of mercury, cash and gold. In fact, several salvage
attempts have been made on the vessel, none of which
have ever resulted in the recovery of treasure.
Indeed, in 1961, a full scale salvage attempt was
seriously considered which would have attempted to
raise the U-853 from the bottom. This project never
proceeded further than the planning stages.